ESPN Planning Limited Showing Of USC-Ohio State Game In 3-D

ESPN today is expected to announce that the September 12 USC-Ohio State football game "will have a limited showing in 3-D," according to Diane Pucin of the L.A. TIMES. The 3-D version "will be available at the Galen Center in Los Angeles and the ESPN Zone at LA Live as well as at a single theater in Columbus, Ohio; Hartford, Conn. (for ESPN invitees) and Hurst, Texas." ESPN VP/Emerging Technology Anthony Bailey said that Hurst was chosen because ESPN "would like to see how a 3-D broadcast would do in a place unaffiliated with either team playing." Bailey said that the USC Alumni Association "will control tickets for the Galen Center showing." Fans at the ESPN Zone in L.A. "will be randomly invited to an upstairs room where the game will be available in 3-D." There will be "no tickets for sale for any of the viewing sites." Bailey: "The goal of the production is to learn more." Bailey also said that ESPN "would be using its own camera crews and production trucks and will have a separate announcing crew -- Mark Jones and Bob Davie will call the 3-D telecast while Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and reporter Lisa Salters will do the regular ESPN telecast" (L.A. TIMES, 8/24).